They both looked over their shoulders, but they had different reasons for doing so.

Andamlak Berta took a peek because he wanted to know how Benard Kimeli was doing, his signal to put the hammer down on his way to victory.

Alia Mohammed had the same plan for taking advantage of a fatiguing Edith Chelimo, but she also wanted to keep an eye on Berta.

As it turned out, Berta was best in the Ottawa 10K, the feature evening event on the opening day of Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend. The 19-year-old Ethiopian not only outdistanced his Kenyan counterpart by 34 seconds with his official time of 27 minutes, 48 seconds, but he also more than made up the 3:40 head start given to the elite female racers and was the first athlete to cross the finish line on the Queen Elizabeth Driveway near City Hall.

Andamlak Berta of Ethiopia, the winner of the 10K race, crosses the finish line on Saturday, May 26, 2018 at Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend.Ashley Fraser /
Postmedia

Perhaps the only difficulty Berta faced was in dealing with the solitude of racing alone for essentially the last three kilometres of the winding course.

“If there were other competitors who were coming, maybe the time would have been better,” Berta said through an interpreter from the Ethiopian embassy in Ottawa. “But, the weather was good and I tried to do my best.”

Mohammed, 27, represents the United Arab Emirates even though she was born and still trains in Ethiopia.

Alia Mohammed was the top woman to finish the 10K race Saturday May 26, 2018 at Ottawa Race Weekend.Ashley Fraser /
Postmedia

She and Chelimo ran with a lead group that started at eight, but was down to three by the mid-point of the race. They continued shoulder to shoulder through eight kilometres before Mohammed pulled away for good.

Her winning time was 31:36, while Chelimo, a 31-year-old Kenyan, crossed in 31:47. Another Kenyan, Gladys Kimaina, was third in 32:19, followed closely by Laura Thweatt (32:20) of the United States and Rachel Cliff (32:23) of Vancouver.

“I was looking at (Chelimo) and pushing, pushing, pushing,” Mohammed said. “Then I saw that she was a little bit tired. After that, it was more push, push and I broke her.”

The conditions were a mixed bag for the elite competitors: Some cloud to keep the temperature in the moderate range, but elevated humidity and a fast early pace for both women and men sapped the finishing kicks of most of them.

“I was surprised at how close that third place (overall) stayed, but I think everyone was hurting, myself included, at that point,” said Cliff, who won the race within a race to successfully defend the Athletics Canada 10-kilometre road race title she had won for the first time in Ottawa last year.

Natasha Wodak (33:45) of Vancouver and Linsey Middleton (33:48), a native of Guelph, Ont., now residing in Idaho, finished second and third among Canadian women and seventh and eighth overall, respectively.

Meanwhile, Guelph’s Evan Esselink solidified his status as Canada’s leading man over 10 kilometres by adding the national road race crown to the 10,000-metre track championship he won last year and will defend next month in Guelph.

Esselink’s time of 30:31 left him just four seconds ahead of Kevin Blackney of Prince Albert, Sask. They ranked ninth and 10th overall, just ahead of Sergio Raez Villanueva (30:49) of Mississauga, Ont.

“Running 10K on the roads is a little different, but I felt like it was the same distance and there wasn’t any reason I couldn’t do it again,” Esselink said.

L-R Evan Esselink and Rachel Cliff were the top male and female Canadian’s to finish the 10K race Saturday May 26, 2018 at Ottawa Race Weekend.Ashley Fraser /
Postmedia

Among those cheering the new road champion on Saturday were his father, Eric, and mother, Cathie, who made the trip to Ottawa from their home in Courtice, Ont., just east of Toronto, so it’s entirely possible they’ll be back in the capital region when he heads to the Terry Fox Athletic Facility to compete in the 5,000 metres of the Canadian track and field championships in early July.

After all, they followed him to Italy for the 2009 world youth championships, so this next trip should be a snap.

“They are likely the most supportive fans ever. I get emotional talking about it,” the 26-year-old Esselink said. “They’re just there every step of the way as I’m doing this.”

The victory was worth $10,000 to Berta, while Mohammed received $8,000 for being second among the 16 elite racers on the new race weekend “Dream Team” charity competition rosters. Cliff matched Esselink’s $3,000 take-home pay as national champion, and she added another $1,400 for 10th place overall among Dream Teamers.

There were no time bonuses as the men’s and women’s course records — 27:24 by Ethiopia’s Deriba Merga in 2009 and 30:56 by Kenya’s Gladys Cherono in 2015 — remained intact.

Race weekend concludes Sunday with the Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon starting at 7 a.m. Half-marathon competitors will head out from the start line on Elgin Street beginning at 9.

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